Something unprecedented since 1945: to protect the Dolphinsmost French and foreign fisheries must remain from today on the docks within the Bay of Gascony.

Off an extensive strip of French Atlantic coastfrom Brittanyin northwestern France, to the border of Spain to the south, h pause of fishing activities until February 20 concerns all fisheriesFrench or foreign, over eight meters, as well as certain fishing techniques.

A total of 450 French fishing vessels are to remain at the docks.

The one-month pause was announced after the Council of State, which had been appealed by environmental associations, asked the French government to take action to reduce the deaths of these small marine mammals caught in the nets.

The subway going to repeat them winters of 2025 and his 2026 to protect the dolphins.

CIEM, the international scientific reference body, estimates approx 9,000 the number of of dolphins where they lose their lives every year because they are caught in Nets on the French Atlantic coast. The level of deaths, considered sustainable for the species, is 4,900 deaths at most.

The agency recommends ceasing fishing activities for three months in the winter and for at least one month in the summer, periods when dolphin mortality peaks.

Concern in the industry despite announced public aid

Serge Larzabal, head of a fishermen’s committee in the south-west of France, believes, however, that the announced ban is “completely out of proportion to the small risk they (fishers) pose to marine mammals”.

“The Council of State is indifferent, the non-governmental organizations as well, to all the work we have been doing for six months with the professionals to convince them to equip themselves with cameras, with means of deterrence and data collection to limit the number of dolphins caught by mistake in the net,” he continues.

To offset the damage to fishermen, French Ecological Transition Minister Christophe Besy promised on Friday that compensation “will range from 80% to 85% of turnover for all vessels” affected by the ban.